Former Nayarit prosecutor, Edgar Veytia, pleads guilty in NY court to conspiring to distribute drugs to the US

The former Nayarit prosecutor, Edgar Veytia, pleaded guilty Friday in the Eastern District Court of New York of one of three charges against him in connection with conspiring to distribute drugs to the United States.

Before the judge Carol Bagley Amon, in the court located in Brooklyn, Veytia accepted the guilt, as well as the suggested sentencing guidelines between the prosecutors and the defense. That agreement established that the sentence could be between 324 months to 405 months in prison.

Amon said that she could nevertheless impose a higher or even lower sentence to the guidelines agreed by the defense. The charge to conspire to import drugs to the United States has a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment.

In addition to the imposition of the jail sentence, Veytia will have to deliver as a penalty a not yet specified amount of money, which will be determined after she delivers a balance of her finances under oath. The sentence will be dictated by Amon on April 25.

Wearing the green gray uniform of the prison, Veytia agreed to have conspired to distribute in the United States at least one kilo of heroin, five kilos of cocaine, 500 grams of methamphetamine and one thousand kilos of marijuana between February 2013 and February 2017.

Prosecutors also stressed that Veytia took advantage of his position as a public official in Nayarit to commit these crimes.

In this regard, Veytia explained that these crimes were committed by illegally releasing convicted drug traffickers in Nayarit, who manufactured and distributed the drugs in the United States.

Veytia, a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, was arrested in March 2017 in the city of San Diego after crossing the border. Later he was transferred to New York, where his case was settled.
Another version

Edgar Veytia, a former Nayarit prosecutor, pleaded guilty on Friday to drug charges in a courtroom where a drug lord also appeared in a conspiracy trial.

Both Edgar Veytia and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán are being tried in separate cases in a federal court in Brooklyn.

Shortly after Guzman's ongoing trial concluded during the week, Veytia was moved to another courtroom to plead guilty to charges he was bought to help the cartels smuggle cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine into the US since 2013 until the time of his arrest in 2017.

Veytia, 48, admitted that he arranged for drug traffickers to avoid arrest and / or release from custody. He did not specify which organizations he supported, but it is not believed that the Guzmán cartel in Sinaloa was one of them.

"I used my official position. to help drug trafficking organizations, "he told the judge.

In this regard, Veytia explained that these crimes were committed by illegally releasing convicted drug traffickers in Nayarit, who manufactured and distributed the drugs in the United States.

Veytia, a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, was arrested in March 2017 in the city of San Diego after crossing the border. Later he was transferred to New York, where his case was settled.

Veytia faces at least 10 years in prison at the time of sentencing at the end of this year, although the term could be more than double if the judge follows the sentencing guidelines calculated by prosecutors. According to an accusation, the government could also seize "an amount of approximately 250 million in the currency of the United States" according to the confiscation laws.

According to media reports, Veytia survived an assassination attempt in 2011 and promoted himself as a candidate for law and order when he ran for the attorney general.

"Nayarit is not a fertile ground for breaking the law," he once said. "There is no place here for organized crime."

The case is adjusted to a pattern of corruption allegations that is exhibited in the trial of Guzmán. Jurors heard testimony from donors who claim multiple instances of several law enforcement officials who received bribes Sinaloa cartel to look away or demanded a share of the profits of drugs in the 90s and 2000.

The former member of Cartel Jesús Zambada has declared that he personally made at least $ 6 million in hidden payments to the former federal security chief, Genaro García Luna. He said the cash was delivered during two meetings at a restaurant in Mexico between the beginning of 2005 and the end of 2007, an accusation denied by Luna.

Earlier this week, Zambada's nephew, Vicente, described a meeting in the mid-2000s in which representatives of corrupt Mexican politicians asked if the cartel could help them send 100 tons (91 metric tons) of cocaine in a tanker. He said he was arrested before he knew if the shipment ever happened.

Re: Former Nayarit prosecutor, Edgar Veytia, pleads guilty in NY court to conspiring to distribute drugs to the US

This guy was the fiscalia where I live and this whole deal was well known. It is good he was taken out. Nothing happened in Nayarit without his approval or hand involved. He was cocky and stupid to think his movement between the US and Mexico would go on for too long. A brute.